"Anyone got a OnePlus One invite?" is a phrase I remember well. They were the good ol' days. Actually, no, they weren't, they were awful. Anyway, those days are now behind us because OnePlus has announced an exclusive partnership with UK carrier O2 to sell the OnePlus 3 in brick-and-mortar stores.

This is OnePlus's first carrier partnership, so it's a momentous occasion for a phone maker that three years ago only sold phones online through an annoying (but admittedly clever marketing) invite system. For UK citizens, it will make OnePlus a lot more visible in the mainstream phone market, which can only be a good thing, plus it fixes a long-standing OnePlus problem: customer service. It's something that has often been complained about in forums and elsewhere on the web that getting a phone fixed or replaced by the company is no easy task, so now anyone who buys a OnePlus phone through O2 can go into the store for support, either hardware or software, which is pretty cool. Obviously, those who buy online will still have to go through OnePlus's repair program and not O2's, which for me is a good enough reason to buy it from the carrier.

The OnePlus 3 will start at £28 a month with no upfront fees, or it will be available off-contract for £329. The phone will go on sale from September 29 in O2 stores and online. Bonus: according to staff member David on OnePlus's forums, O2 will also stock accessories starting "some time in October."